New Delhi: YouTube has sent a notice to the digital news platform National Dastak saying that the Union government has directed it to block the channel on the platform. It has allegedly also sent a similar notice to another platform, Article 19 India.
News of this notice comes within days of the YouTube channel of ‘Bolta Hindustan’, another Hindi news platform, which had close to 3 lakh subscribers having been suspended by the government. The channels of National Dastak and Article 19 India have not been suspended yet.
National Dastak, under editor Shambhu Kumar Singh, has 9.41 million subscribers. Active since 2015, the channel describes itself as a platform for the “strong voices of those belonging to the Dalit and tribal communities, the backward classes, women, farmers, minorities and the exploited.”
The channel posted an image of the legal notice it received on April 3, 2024, on X.
“The government wants to shut down National Dastak. YouTube sent a notice on April 3,” it said, adding that this is happening while the Model Code of Conduct is in place.
“Lakhs of newspapers and TV news channels are running, and yet there is so much fear over the Bahujans’ National Dastak?” the outlet posted in Hindi.
The post on X notes that ‘Article 19’ – the digital news venture run by journalist Navin Kumar – has also got a similar notice. This channel has 2.8 million subscribers.
The notice by YouTube’s legal cell cites the controversial Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, as the basis for the government’s action. Parts of these Rules have been challenged by various news portals and agencies, including The Wire. In August 2021, a division bench of the Bombay high court stayed the enforcement of the ‘Code of Ethics’ under the Rules.
YouTube wrote:
We have received a notice from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) directing blocking of your channel…pursuant to Rule 15(2) of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, read with Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000.
The notice itself is confidential so we are unable to share it with you at this time. The MIB is likely to pass a final order regarding the aforesaid URL shortly.
You may provide any feedback to the MIB regarding the legality of your aforesaid content at jspna-moib@gov.in. As per our obligations to comply with local laws, we may comply with such an order without further notice.
The clauses invoked are identical to the ones that were invoked in the email that Bolta Hindustan received.
